Farm Visit 9 October 2009
Approximately 20 members braved the wet weather for a second meeting of the Cushendun grass/clover monitor farm group.
William McLauchlan ran a useful and fiercely fought competition on grass species identification by seed head.
The group then travelled to the out-farm on Ballybrack Road to view fields that had been reseeded and stitched in since previous meeting.
- The grazing field at the top of the hill (32b) had been stitched in using the discing technique.
- Field 63 was also disced in 2 directions and grasseed broadcast and rolled
- Field 62 was sown with the Guttler one pass drill
- Half of Field 61 was sown with the Guttler and the other half by discing and broadcasting seed.
All reseeding had taken place in mid August but there were signs of young growths of clover.
Initial results would indicate more clover emergence in areas which had used the Guttler rather than the discing technique.
- Silage field 59 was disced and seeded as above.
All the fields to be seeded were soil analysed:
- Fields 60 & 59 - pH 6.6, Phosphorus index 1, Potassium index 1
- Fields 61, 62, 63 - pH 6.2, Phosphorusindex 2, Potassium index 2-
The fields were fertilised with 2 bags/acre of 0:16:36.
The seed mixture for the fields that were stitched was 2kg Aberdai and 5kg Aberglyn Tetraploid PRG.
The reseed, sown at 14 kg/acre was:
| Pastour Late Prg | 2kg |
| Aber S48 Timothy | 1kg |
| Aberglyn Int PRG (TET) | 3kg |
| Foxtrot Late PRG | 2kg |
| Spelga Int PRG | 2kg |
| Bree Int PRG | 3kg |
| Aberdai white clover | 2kg |
Soil analysis
Fields 60 & 59 - pH 6.6, Phosphorus index 1, Potassium index 1
Fields 61, 62, 63 - pH 6.2, Phosphorus index 2, Potassium index 2-
The meeting concluded with tea and biscuits and closing remarks from the group Chairman, Kevin MacAuley.
